Zenith Captain Winsor Annual Calendar Watch - Simple Yet Complicated

Sep 28, 2011

The Zenith collection of Captain models, born in 1952, is joined by a novel timepiece – the Captain Winsor Annual Calendar watch. The annual calendar function is presented via the date, the day of the week and the month and needs just one annual adjustment.

The new Zenith watch celebrates an alliance between the Musee International d’Horlogerie (MIH) in la Chaux-de-Fonds and the Manufacture.

The museum’s curator, Ludwig Oechslin, introduced a one-of-a-kind construction - an annual calendar that shows off the day of the week, date and month with only one annual adjustment per year. This complication is far more accessible when compared to the perpetual calendar for many chronograph fans.

The annual calendar display is built on three concentric discs and provides perfect readability. The outer disc shows the date, the middle one is for the month, and the inner one is for the day of the week. This system is simple and sophisticated at the same time. When we come to 31-day months, the date disc moves the month disc forward. As for 30-day months, the month disc performs the 31 “jump”. The watch owner will only have to adjust the function by hand when we come from February to March.

This complication boasts a smart, pared-down design that incorporates just nine mobile elements, while the majority of calendars incorporate between 30 and 40 elements.

The new Zenith Captain watch is powered by the famous highly-accurate El Primero movement produced in-house by the Zenith Manufacture for more than 40 years. It represents the only series-produced movement beating at the rate of 36,000 vibrations per hour, implying one beat every tenth of a second. The heart of the Captain Winsor watch is the automatic El Primero calibre 4054 movement. You can admire the beauty of the mechanism, with its Cotes-de-Geneve and circular-graining, via the sapphire crystal case-back. The 341-part, 29-jewel movement offers 50 hours of power-reserve.

The present-day chronograph models have inherited a variety of features from the 1950s Zenith vintage timepieces, including guilloche-embellished dials, dauphine hand and hand-applied facetted hour markers.

The Zenith Captain Winsor Annual Calendar watch has been created in two variations. The first one demonstrates a silvery or midnight blue dial and a steel case. The second one shows off a silvery dial and an 18K pink gold case.

The 42mm case is teamed with a brown alligator strap provided with protective rubber lining and fitted with a pin buckle. The timepiece is 50-meter water-resistant.